A Great Cloud Of Saints Who Suffered..

(This is the first article in the series : A Scriptural Response To Suffering)

According to Webster’s dictionary, Suffering is defined as the state of experience where one is submitted to or forced to endure pain or distress. Suffering can be in the form of physical, mental, or emotional pain. All of us have been through various forms of suffering in our life. According to our personality, the way we respond to suffering differs. Some of us have great perseverance to bear the pain of suffering and some do not. The first post in this series will point you to some of the characters in the Old Testament of the Bible who faced suffering and give an overview on how they dealt with it in their life.

In the beginning, God created the world and it was perfect. There was no sin, no pain, no sorrows and no suffering. He created man and gave authority to rule over the earth. At the same time, there was a boundary marker for the first humans – but they chose to cross that limit instead of following God’s way. Therefore they lost the honor and glory they had. That one act of disobedience created an eternal separation between humanity and God. It allowed sin to enter into this world and a fall from perfection. The rebellious choice of man detached man from God. The perfect image of man got blurred by the sinful act. Man fell and the fall resulted in physical and spiritual death (shame). It has had catastrophic consequences for the entire world ever since. The fall resulted in sorrow and pain and hence suffering started.

The story of Joseph is known to all of us. Joseph was sold as a slave by his own brothers. He was falsely accused of something which he didn’t commit and finally he was thrown into prison. But Joseph didn’t give up. Rather he faced the situation with courage and endurance. By God’s grace and power, he was later promoted to governor of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. He even reached a position to make provision for the nations of the world during a time of famine, including his own family and the brothers who sold him into slavery! The climax of Josephs story is summarized in Joseph’s address to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” One true lesson that we can learn from Joseph’s story is - "The sovereign plan of God never fails and He always accomplishes his purposes."

Then we see a person named Moses who was born in a time when Pharaoh ordered the death of all male children born to Hebrew women. But God had a plan for Moses, and He used the same Pharaoh’s daughter who found the basket in River Nile to adopt Moses as her own son. She raised him in Pharaoh’s palace. Moses grew and he could have led a great life in Egypt using his position and being the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But in the Epistle of Hebrews, we read - By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

By default, our inclination is to enjoy the pleasures of the world! And just for nominal reasons, we spend little time for God. But look what Moses did!! He declined the pleasures and chose to suffer affliction with Israel. He knew he would have to suffer but he gave priority to the responsibility given by God than the fame. Moses had an eternal perspective and cared less for the temporal which is a great model for us. Thus God used Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the slavery in Egypt. What is our prime concern? Are we engaged with the world or do we consider kingdom the most pressing matter? If so, are we ready to suffer for the sake of the kingdom? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.

When it comes to suffering, Bible devotes one whole book to deal with the issue. The book is called - “Job”. We do not know the exact reason of Job’s suffering. What we know is that he was blameless and upright; he feared God and turned away from evil. Yet God allowed him to pass through suffering. Neither Job nor his friends could explain the reason of his suffering. But we know that Job trusted in God completely and put his complete hope in God. Finally, God confronts Job and his response is - "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I say in response to You? I put my hand on my mouth."

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"The response of Job to God in his suffering does not underplay the intensity of the loss and pain he endured but rather emphasizes the significance of trusting God and putting our hope in his purpose even when we don’t know the full picture."

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Another person whom I want to introduce to you is David who wrote the most number of Psalms. When we read his psalms, we can realize the fact that he underwent through much suffering during his time and it has been reflected through his psalms. In one of his psalms, David asks God- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry out by day but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Theologians call it as the most anguished/tormented cry in human history. David feels that he is abandoned by God. From the Psalms, we can understand the fact that his enemies have surrounded him, and his body is in extreme pain. But the more concerning factor for David is that he identifies himself in a situation where he feels that God is not with him and does not care about the pain he goes through. Haven’t we all felt the same way? No matter how small or big distress we go through, if we don’t get a right-away answer or help for the despair situation we are in there and then, we feel restless and go to extreme thoughts and conclude that God is not with us and we are not his concern at all.

Now if we read Psalm 22 carefully, we can notice that though David feels that his pain is not Gods concern, he still has a ray of hope in God and that is why he says - “In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame” (vv. 4–5). He remembers Gods faithfulness to his forefathers in the past. “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God” (vv. 9–10). David remembers God’s care which he experienced in his own personal life in the past. This proves that David has not let his hopes down. He still trusts in God and remembers Gods faithfulness.

How marvelously has God led us in the past? If we try to count the number of instances where God has showed his faithfulness, I am quite sure it would be a daunting task. We have been awestruck at times by how God has worked in our lives, right? Psalms 22 teaches us on how to remember Gods faithfulness in the past and guide us in the hope of a better tomorrow. The best book to meditate and study during times of suffering is the book of Psalms. We will be able to identify with the situations mentioned there and know more about the character of God. Yes, He is faithful no matter what our circumstances are and He will never put us to shame. He is our refuge and strength and his love never ceases.

These are very few examples I selected from the Old Testament who went through sorrows in their life. Overall then the Old Testament does present a good number of saints who went through suffering and pain in their life. Their response to suffering does provide us encouragement to an extent on how to deal with the pain of this world. Yet, we still have not come across the greatest example mentioned in the Scripture to look unto and follow, when it comes to suffering. The next post in this series will talk about HIM.